Birthday gifts – you would think someone who likes to knit and crochet would always have in mind upcoming birthday, showers, weddings, etc. Nope – my mind doesn’t seem to work that way so from now on I vow to put these things on a list so that I can anticipate them better – Ha!

I did recently, however, have a young man, sweet to my heart, with a first birthday and managed to knit him a sweater. He has a summer birthday but I wanted to make something for this fall. In my earlier post this week I talked about the Pantone’s fall 2014 fashion colors. The yarn I chose was gray but I think you could safely say it is closely related to Pantone’s Aluminum found in the fall 2014 palette. Check out Vogue Knitting’s nice splash chart of the fall colors.

Image: Vogue Knitting

Below is a picture of all the pieces I knitted for the baby sweater before sewing them together. I used a pattern by Lion Brand – Heirloom Cables Baby Sweater. Skill level is for advanced intermediate.

This close-up picture shows the cables. They are a simple 4 stitch cable.

The finished sweater has 5 buttons for closer and a rolled collar for warmth. I used a soft acrylic yarn for easy care.

This was a simple project and took less than a week of my spare time to finish. I will consider doing this pattern again.

What colors are you knitting with this fall? I really want to make something with cypress.

How many of you work on multiple projects simultaneously? Sometimes that is called procrastination but in this case I worked on two afghans at the same time out of necessity (to keep me sane). Afghans take time and doing the same pattern for hours can get a bit boring, so when I got tired of one I switched to the other. The best thing is when I am done I have two projects completed!

This afghan pattern, “Woodland Circle,” is a free crochet pattern from Lion Brand and is made with their popular yarn Homespun.

For this afghan, I simply took a crochet stitch pattern and adapted it to create the afghan. I call it “Houndstooth Afghan.” The use of contrasting colors makes it very striking. You can purchase this easy pattern from Grace Elizabeth’s Etsy Shop. You get a downloadable 3 page pattern with detailed instructions, stitch guide and pictures of the completed afghan.

It is amazing how procrastination finds its way into all parts of my life. Not only do I procrastinate with my school work, but also with my household plans. I put off doing dishes (like this very moment) and I tell myself I will finish my project later. Recently I have been working on an afghan. I could have been done before the wedding but I decided to push it off until now.

I have actually made this afghan once before and gave it as a gift. When I started it, I thought “This is so easy! I already know what I am doing. Should go by fast!” Several months have passed. So much for getting it done right away. I am so excited to be able to use it!

As a child I loved cuddling up in the blanket that was always draped over the back of the couch. I don’t remember any of them having much significance to me. Now Nathan and I have a significant blanket: our first family afghan. Neither of us owned it before our marriage and it never belonged to someone else. Best part is that I made it! What could be better?

Once again, I’ve returned to one of my passions: knitting. This time I thought I’d try an infinity scarf, which means that it is connected as a continuous loop.

This was a fun one to make because it was just so simple! I just used a rib stitch (knit, purl) as the pattern. The one challenge it posed though was the connection, but the remedy was to try out a fancy new stitch: the kitchener stitch. This stitch is used to fasten the two ends together in a way that it continues the pattern and becomes invisible. After watching the following tutorial and reading her instructions, I was able to modify it to my 1 knit, 1 purl pattern.
For my scarf I used Lion Brand Yarn – Hometown USA, super bulky weight, in Lake Tahoe Blue and size 13 needles. For the width I desired, I cast-on 18 stitches using the provisional cast-on method. This cast-on gave me live stitches in order to connect both ends using the kitchener stitch. If you do not know how to do a provincial cast-on go to the knittinghelp.com website.

You could definitely make variations of this scarf to add your own twist. Try a different weight of yarn, size of needles, or number of stitches cast-on! Then post pictures so we can see how yours turn out!

~Courtney Rose~

Have you ever used the kitchener stitch before? Did it give you any troubles?

More and more often these days, I am running into other college girls who knit! It is quite shocking to me because when I whipped out my knitting needles freshman year in the sorority house, everyone gave me a crazy look. Many were interested in learning, others commented on how their mom or grandmother tried teaching them once, but very few girls actually knitted as a hobby. Since then, however, I have met many other college-aged girls who knit, which I think is pretty cool.

What I find most interesting about these new knitters is that most of them only seem to know one stitch. Most of them are creating scarves quite efficiently, but they are only using the knit stitch to do so.

There are so many more interesting things to do with knitting if you know more than one stitch. Numerous patterns are out there and the creativity is endless!

As a quick example of the endless possibilities that we have access to, I whipped up this chunky scarf using a pattern that I made up as I went!

So for all of you beginning knitters, here is a simple scarf to try out!

After casting on 18 stitches, I used the garter stitch for 7 rows. The garter stitch is what most beginning knitters are actually doing whether they realize it or not. The garter stitch is quite simply using the knit stitch for every row, creating a series of ridges.

Then I used the stockinette stitch for another 7 rows. In order to use the stockinette stitch, you must first learn the purl stitch. After learning how to purl, you are set to use the stockinette stitch. This stitch is just alternating between the knit stitch and the purl stitch for each row; you will have a knit row followed by a purl row. This pattern creates a right side and a wrong side and is quite pretty.

Once I reached the desired length (2 full skeins), I cast off, wove the ends in and voila! I now have a nifty new knitted scarf created especially by me and for me! I love the way this one turned out because the pattern really spices up the neutral color and it’s super warm!

What has been your favorite scarf project or biggest knitting frustration?